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PC:Ngo Xuan (Formosus)
Description: Ngo Xuan is slightly below average in height and build for a Genasi. He has dull gray skin the color of dead flesh, shot through with glowing neon green veins. He wears a Mandarin beard, and usually dresses in outdated court clothing from the time of the last Jade Emperor. It is hard to determine his age, but most would say he looks like he is in his late 40's to early 50's. Background: 148 years ago, Ngo Xuan was born as the Water Genasi Cao Cao Quang, a hereditary gentleman who was a member of the Cao Cao family. This minor house served the highborn noble house that would later produce the infamous traitor Jade Emperor. In fact, little Quang and the Jade Emperor were childhood playmates and close friends. As they grew, it was noticed that Quang had some of the qualities that would make a good Wu Jen, a wizard who communed with elemental spirits to learn his magic. A suitable tutor was found for him in the elderly mendicant Wu Jen named Gong Hiro, and he began to study the arcane arts. He summoned his first elemental spirit, the maridan Wei Shen Jing, shortly thereafter. During his studies, Master Gong often noticed that young Quang frequently attempted to send Wei Shen Jing to bargain with some unsavory powers. At first these were simply the more violent and temperamental elemental spirits. Master Gong reproved his student and told him to stick to bargaining with the safer spirits. Quang heeded Gong Hiro for a time, but he could not deny his desire for power for long. He re-opened his negotiations with the dangerous elementals, only under greater secrecy. He soon branched into sending Wei Shen Jing to gain magic not only from these elementals, but from primordials, demons, Oni, and other evil sources. He was able to hide this all from Gong Hiro for a long time, but his Master found out again after he witnessed his student's physical form begin to deteriorate from the strain put on it by dealing with evil preternatural entities. Gong Hiro was not the type to give second warnings, so he refused to continue teaching Quang. Disgraced, the young Wu Jen left his master. However, all was not lost. The old Jade Emperor had died, and the position had rotated to his old playmate's house. His friend has become the new Emperor. The Jade Emperor was happy to offer Quang a place as a court magician. In his new capacity as one of the Jade Emperor's magicians, Quang continued to obtain magical secrets from Oni and other evil beings. It wasn't long before he and the Jade Emperor had rekindled their friendship and become staunch allies and secret devotees of the dark arts. With the "accidental" death of the old Chief Magician, the Jade Emperor had Cao Cao Quang appointed to this high position. During this time, Quang's physical deterioration continued, and he became a Causticsoul Genasi. The water in his veins had become corrupted by his continued association with the pollution of evil spirits. Even Wei Shen Jing's form changed from a creature of clear water to something made from dripping muck and mud. Quang continued to grow in power, becoming one of, if not the, Jade Empire's greatest arcanist and a feared man throughout the Empire. He and the Emperor colluded in secret to even further expand their power through their alliance with the Oni. Eventually, the Emperor's ambition became too great. The Jade Emperor wanted to allow the takeover of the Kingfom by the Oni, using them openly to crush any political enemies that he had. Quang cautioned against this, believing that wielding the Oni's power in secret was the best path, but his old friend's heart was set. Quang reluctantly supported the Jade Emperor's plan at first. As the Oni annexation of the Jade Empire began to go poorly, largely due to the entire Dargonborn daimyo caste rebelling against the Emperor's perfidy, Quang made plans to abandon his old friend and escape what he knew would be terrible retribution from the people he had previously oppressed. Plumbing the darkest depths of magical knowledge, even communicating with the oldest and most mind-numbingly powerful of the Primordials, Quang discovered a mighty ritual. On the day of the Dragonborns' final assault on the Jade Emperor's palace, Quang began his ritual. One of the major reasons the Emperor was defeated was because Quang, instead of supporting the defending forces with his magic, apprentices, and bound spirits, instead sealed off his wing of the castle to perform this ritual. After many hours, the terrible work was complete. Tearing a rift in space-time by its power, the ritual snatched Cao Cao Quang up in its grasp and flung him forward in reality over a hundred years and many thousands of miles distant. He appeared, flummoxed and confused, in the courtyard of an abandoned country estate on the outskirts of Daunton. The ritual took much more from Quang than the years it took to learn, and the expensive and rare reageants it took to cast. As part of his deal to learn it, Quang sacrificed much of his power to the primoridal beings who taught it to him. The trauma and alteration he experienced traversing the rift in space-time stripped away whatever was left. When he emerged in modern Daunton, he had been almost completely shorn of all his magical knowledge and ability, left only with the powers of a rank apprentice Wu Jen. He also came to discover that the Jade Emperor had been defeated long ago, and as the Jade Emperor's Chief Magician, he was second only to his former friend in condemnation and scorn among the populace of the Kingdom of Jade. In order to avoid even a remote suspicion that he might be the same person as the fabled evil sorcerer who tormented the people of the Jade Empire during that lost age, Quang decided to change his name to Ngo Xuan. Now, alone in his abandoned estate in Daunton, he has only a few fancy robes from 100 years ago, and his faithful maridan Wei Shen Jing, to begin rebuilding his power. Hooks: - Someone may recognize Xuan as Cao Cao Quang from an old portrait or engraving, or at least think they are eerily similar. - Oni both powerful and weak that were present at the defeat of the Jade Emperor a century ago may still be upset with Xuan for fleeing the battle. - Gong Hiro, his first teacher, may still be alive through the use of arcane arts. Kicker: - Xuan is desperate to recover as much of his old ritual book as he can -even though he can no longer actually perform most of the rituals therein.- The book may have been destroyed when Xuan cast his space-time rift spell or during the storming of the Jade Palace, or it may still exist somewhere split up into smaller parts or under heavy guard. Math Attributes Defenses Hitpoints Saving Throws No modifiers to saving throws. Attacks Basic All basic attacks with staff implement get +2 to hit due to proficiency bonus. They have no other bonus. Powers Powers generally get +4 to hit and damage from intelligence. The exception is the Genasi racial power, which is Con+3 to hit and 1d8+con damage Class Features Elemental Resistance-''' At the end of each extended rest, choose acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. Until the end of your next extended rest, you and your allies have resistance to that damage type while adjacent to the familiar when it is in active mode. The resistance equals your Constitution modifier. At level 21, the resistance increases to twice your Constitution modifier. 'Gen Servant-' You gain the Arcane Familiar feat as a bonus feat. You can choose any familiar normally available to a wizard or one of the familiars available only to sha’irs. At the end of each extended rest, when your familiar returns from its venture into the Elemental Chaos, you can replace one of your wizard daily attack powers or wizard utility powers with another wizard power of the same type. The new power must have a level, and its level must be the same as the old power’s level. Xuan's servant is a Maridan named '''Wei Shen Jing Speed 6, swim 6 Constant Benefits Aquatic: You and the maridan can breathe underwater. In aquatic combat, you gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls against nonaquatic creatures. Active BenefitsGift of Water:When you use an arcane daily attack power, each enemy adjacent to the maridan is slowed, and you (if you are adjacent to the maridan) and each ally adjacent to it gain partial concealment. These effects last until the end of your next turn. Elemental Conduit: Once per encounter, you can use your familiar’s space as the origin for a close arcane attack power. Sha'ir Cantrips-''' Gain 4 cantrips of your choice. 'Vile Scholar Starting Feature (1st level)-' You are fluent in Abyssal. In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to Bluff checks, Diplomacy checks, and Intimidate checks when interacting with evil creatures. You also gain the dark speech power. Racial Features '''Elemental Origins: Your ancestors were native to the Elemental Chaos, so you are considered an elemental creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin. Causticsoul: You can breathe underwater. You also gain resist 5 acid and the acid surge power. At 11th level, the resistance improves to 10 acid. At 21st level, the resistance improves to 15 acid. Skills Feats 'Improved Defenses-' You gain a +1 feat bonus to Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level and +3 at 21st level. Regional Benefits Jade Empire: +1 to insight, +2 to bluff during social interaction. Equipment Judge Comments Level 1 Approval 1 Approved by TwoHeadsBarking Approval 2 *You have two backgrounds listed: Vile Scholar and Kingdom of Jade. You need to pick one or the other and adjust your skills accordingly. (I don't mean the theme part of Vile Scholar, just the background part.) *The bonus to bluff for Kingdom of Jade is conditional, so it probably shouldn't be included in your final Bluff total. Most bluff checks are in social interaction, but not all of them. *In the ability scores math section, some of the costs are off. Str should be 2 and Wis should be 5. But it adds up to the right number, so this is minor. Just some small problems with the skills, nothing too big. Approved by Dekana. 01:36, April 22, 2012 (UTC) Status Approved for level 1 by TwoHeadsBarking and Dekana. Category:L4W:Approved Characters Category:L4W